How do you know that you love what you do? You sacrifice your time, sleep and sanity to take on all of the opportunities you are presented with.
My resume and portfolio have always been a point of pride in my professional life (and sometimes even my personal life, too). I worked so hard to attain the knowledge and experience that I have, that I can’t help but be proud of it.
When I left the world of academia (and thankfully, also the world of unpaid internships), I had so much free time. I had time to practice my violin. I had time to take up extreme couponing. I had time to pick up CrossFit and compete in my first (and probably only) competition. I had time to watch all the Netflix. All of it. While I truly do enjoy all of those things, they aren’t what I am truly passionate about.
In the last year, I have had the opportunity to teach the new generation of public relations and communications professionals, and to pursue the parts of PR and marketing that I love most with a few freelance opportunities. I didn’t think that it was possible to grow professionally as much as I have since I graduated college.
The moral of this story: never be stagnant. Free time is your friend and maintaining a work-life balance is important, but when it comes to your passions, take the opportunities you are presented because you never know what you might learn from them!
Cris Swaters 